Laura, Cindeea, Felix, Kate, Gary, and Katkin, Thanks for remembering them. Cindee, so nice of you to include them as part of the GW family! I definitely feel that way. Kate, Goldenpond is the one with the pet black and white ducks. She had 3 before the bobcat visit. Gary, I haven't really found them to be destructive. They would be worth a little destruction, though. I find the large turtles to be more destructive, as they chew up the waterlilies when they are here. The area around the pond seemed to fare the best in my yard. The philodendrons that hang over and into the water did well, while the others are yellow and dropping leaves like crazy. I have lots of defoliation and brown/crispy stuff. However, I think most if not all will survive. Time will tell. Anna

Its very good to be back home. I loved Tally....so much less crowded than Miami....and you could buy so much property for cheap up there......the dog is great (thanks for asking) I missed her so much...she is getting spoiled rotten....has become very insistent and makes us put her up on bed every night...I still have to take pics of the yard.....it is so overgrown ....I kind of like it ...once i get rid of the weeds :-) I hope to see you guys soon....I so missed gardening....and my GW friends :-)Ricky the Candle bush has done so well while we were gone....Its such a nice plant....everyone who comes in my yard asks about it.

I wonder if that store just started carrying them. Cuz it sure didn't show up in any of the searches I did. Not that it would have mattered. It's just like the store I bought them from. I wanted to find that Oregon sculptor and buy directly from her at a lesser price. Or find something similar at a fraction of the price! But your friend is very good at internet searching!!!

Oh thanks you guys for all the responses! My roses - OH I MISS THEM! I used to have boquets all over my house - the spring and fall flush were amazing! I have been cutting back the few I have all week - they grow HUGE so fast - got a huge thorn jammed in my thumb yesterday and had to dig it out. It still hurts!! Ok - the tomatoes - so I should give up on the heirloom idea and grow Celebrity and Roma's - right?? I have never really, really canned anything - but I saw it done when I was a kid and I was thinking we could handle it - lol - but freezing sounds so much easier! I'd love some more info on that too. In the past - I had flower beds that I created "lasagna garden" style - as far doing tomatoes - it's too late for me to do that so hmm... How many plants do you guys think I need to get a decent amount of fruit? I just want to stop or at least reduce buying canned tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and all that jazz to cook with ... it would be great if I could pull out my own jar or frozen bag of stuff - lol! Even if I have to give it up for this year and just have four or five plants - some tomatoes are better than none!! Heather